More than 18,000 men and women who worked aboard Royal Canadian ships between World War II and 1970 are at an increased risk for developing serious asbestos-related diseases, such as malignant mesothelioma, reports the Nanaimo (BC) News Bulletin.

Canadian sailors, like many worldwide, were “openly exposed” to large amounts of asbestos, which was mostly used as a fire retardant material aboard ships. Those who worked on vehicle brakes during that same time period are also at risk, notes the news report.

Bob Chow, service operator at the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Nanaimo said that some of the veterans are aware of the risks while others remain oblivious to the fact that they probably inhaled dangerous asbestos fibers on a daily basis.

“We’re aware of it and I’ve done some research into asbestos related upper body respiratory ailments, as Veterans Affairs is calling it – more specifically lung cancer,” said Chow. “From what I understand asbestos is a fairly easy thing to diagnose. Its fibers sort of attach themselves to the lung.”

The difficulty arises, however, because asbestos diseases remain latent in the body for decades. By the time symptoms surface, it’s sometimes difficult to discern whether they’re asbestos-related on just a sign of old age, Chow points out.

According to the Department of National Defense records, approximately 18,000 men and women who served on 230 Canadian ships may have been exposed to asbestos during their enlisted duty.

Veteran Affairs, however, is taking responsibility for ex-service men and women who are presently fighting lung cancer as a result of exposure to the material.

“We’re asking that anybody who feels they may be affected by this come forward,” said Janice Summerby, a spokeswoman for Veteran Affairs. “We encourage our veterans to contact us so we can verify their service history and we can begin the process.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 2:23 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.